


City by the Bay

by JuliaBaggins



Series: Something Real [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Fluff, Kissing in the Rain, M/M, Romance, San Francisco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 08:32:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5410088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuliaBaggins/pseuds/JuliaBaggins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After they met each other on a plane ride, Merlin and Arthur spend a special day in San Francisco...</p><p>Continues my story "When I'm lost in the Storm"</p>
            </blockquote>





	City by the Bay

**Author's Note:**

> After all of the nice feedback I got for "When I'm lost in the Storm" I just had to continue this story.  
> Many thanks to everyone who left kudos & comments on it; hope you like how I carry on :)

Merlin and Arthur walked through San Francisco’s airport side by side, heading for the luggage reclaim. They were still laughing together, telling each other stories, but Merlin felt like his own smile was not totally honest. The thought of saying goodbye to Arthur made him sad, as he had started to like the football player during the last hours. To like him _a lot_ …

“Arthur!” A man hurried in their direction, dressed in an expensive suit. 

Arthur rolled his eyes towards Merlin and whispered: “My _manager_. Father insists that I’m keeping him, but…” He stopped talking when the manager paused right in front of them.

“Arthur, we have to hurry now, you have to be at the Pier in two hours!”

“Hello Michael, nice to see you too. How was your day?”

Michael threw Arthur an annoyed look. 

“You know that this photoshoot is important. So just come on, please, the limousine is waiting outside.”

Arthur nodded, before he turned to look at Merlin; the student had stood silent and feeling kinda out of place during the prior conversation.

“Merlin. Would you, would you maybe like to do something with me, like _together_ , tomorrow or so?” 

He looked a bit nervous, but as soon as a bright smile appeared on Merlin’s face, the nervousness disappeared.

“I’d love to.”

After a moment of hesitating, Merlin leaned forward to hug Arthur. Actually, he had planned only a brief hug, the way two not too close friends would hug a goodbye, but when Arthur buried his face in Merlin’s hair and whispered “I’m so glad the airline placed me next to you.”, Merlin found himself unable to do so. They stood there, right in the middle of the busy airport, in a tight embrace, not minding anything that happened around them. 

After an amount of time that seemed way too short, Arthur’s manager reminded in an angry voice that the photoshoot would start soon, so they let go of each other. Arthur smiled at Merlin one last time, said “I’ll call you.” and walked away together with Michael. 

Merlin was left behind, feeling rather uncomfortable without Arthur – he wondered if the few hours they’d known each other had already been enough to cause this unpleasant feeling in his chest. It was not like he had fallen for the football player, was it?

 

Arthur spent the rest of the day smiling for the camera while the photographer took pictures of him wearing different pairs of football shoes that should be sold soon. When they had offered him the advertising contract he had liked the idea a lot, being flown to San Francisco just for a photoshoot, enjoying the city for a few days and getting a bunch of money for it. 

Now, he was still glad that he had accepted, as otherwise he would have never been on that special plane, but the hours and hours of posing for photos started to annoy him, as he thought about how else he could spend them. And every time the photographer asked him to smile, he thought of a certain pair of kind eyes, of a bright smile, a body cuddled up with his during a storm…

 

Merlin was trying to keep himself busy (and he was _certainly not_ thinking about an arm around his shoulders, a face buried in his hair) the next morning by sorting his clothes into the cupboard of his room in the university’s dorm. He hadn’t brought much with him, so the distraction wasn’t working for long. Merlin sighed, grabbed his book and sat down on the bed, trying to concentrate on the words. 

When his phone rang a few minutes later, he couldn’t have said what the chapter he had read was even about.

“Hello?”

“Hello, dear.” Merlin’s heart jumped – not only that it was undoubtingly Arthur’s voice speaking at the phone, he had also just called him _dear._

“Merlin?” 

“Yeah, I’m here, sorry. How was your photoshoot yesterday?”

“ _Boring_. But at least it’s done and I was able to convince my damn manager to allow me a free day today. So, when can I pick you up?”

Merlin could hear the smirk in Arthur’s voice and informed him that he was ready to go at any time. He told Arthur the address and his room number before he said goodbye and went to his cupboard, wondering what he should wear for their - what was it? Merlin was not sure if he was allowed to think of it as a _date_ , though he would have liked that a lot…

 

Merlin was really surprised when not even a minute later, someone knocked at his door. He opened it to see Arthur standing in front of him, smile on his face.

“Arthur? But, how...?”

“I was already at the campus when I called you. The original plan was to appear in front of your door without calling so it would have been a _real  
_ surprise, but it turned out that no one could tell me your room number, so I had to ask you.”

“You wanted to surprise me?” Merlin felt himself blushing.

“Yes. And I’ve got some more surprises planned for today, in case you’d like?”

“Of course I do!”

“Great. Then come on.”

Arthur took Merlin’s hand in his, guiding him outside of the dorm, and Merlin noticed that it was back, that warm feeling in his chest; the feeling he had missed ever since Arthur had stopped holding him when they left the plane yesterday...

 

They walked to the university’s car park, towards the Mercedes Arthur had rented, and drove a few kilometers through the city. 

Merlin already liked it here – it was funny how the streets were going up and down, there were many cute little houses, decorated with flowers, and even the skyscrapers were not as ugly as those in other cities to his eyes. Furthermore, the sky was bright blue and a warm summer breeze was blowing through the car’s open windows. Not to mention the blond football player sitting next to him behind the wheel who turned to look at Merlin now and then; a look in his eyes that made Merlin’s heart melt.

 

When Arthur turned the car’s engine off they had left the city’s busy center and were surrounded by green, nature, even some trees. 

Arthur hurried out of the car to be able to hold Merlin’s door open, at which Merlin rolled his eyes. Of course he loved it, but he wouldn’t admit that to Arthur.

“Come on, we’re nearly there!”

Merlin followed Arthur up a little hill and held his breath when he saw where they were. The flaming red of the Golden Gate Bridge was shining brightly in the sun, he could see the cars driving at it, the deep blue color of the water was a brilliant contrast to the bridge and when he lifted his head, Merlin also saw the whole of San Francisco in the distance, the white and grey of the houses blurred by a light haze. It was really beautiful.

“Wow.”, was all Merlin could say and Arthur seemed to understand what he meant, smiling at him before he put his arm around Merlin, just like he had done on the plane. Merlin laid his head on Arthur’s shoulder and so they stood there, watching the tiny boats sail around the bay, the masses of cars that were crossing the bridge, the birds above their heads. It felt like they could stay here for eternity, close to each other and watching that beautiful scenery, without missing anything…

 

The weather changed without much of a warning. 

When the light lowered, Merlin had thought that the cloud covering the sun would go away soon, but within minutes, the temperature dropped palpable and while Arthur and Merlin still talked about if they should leave, it started raining really heavy. They started running towards the car, Arthur being faster than Merlin, and by the time they reached it, both of them were soaking wet from head to toes. 

Arthur looked at Merlin, who had started shivering, and asked if he was okay.

“ _Okay?_ ” Merlin smiled. “Way better than just okay.”

And there, on a hill above San Francisco, next to the rented Mercedes and in the pouring rain, Arthur carefully cupped Merlin’s face with his hands and put his lips on Merlin’s. Merlin put a hand in Arthur’s wet hair, the other curling around his neck, and kissed him back, and it was just _perfect_ …

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Comments would make my day :)


End file.
